National Youth Lobby of Parliament

Tuesday October 25th, Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

A group of young people from Leeds' Youth Council went down to the Rally aided by The Youth Association. They took part in the "Choose Youth Lobby" in Westminster to show their support to other young people and youth workers nationwide and to share their resentment towards the cuts to the youth sector in the UK. The young people felt that their views are not listened to enough, so they decided to lobby their MPs from all parties and speak up for young people and young people's services.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan and Gabriel Goldring were two young people from Fabian's constituency who met up with him at the Lobby in Parliament. These two young people are also members of the Leeds Youth Council that is already feeling the effects of the cuts and would not have been able to come to the Lobby without the aid of youth workers. They asked for Fabian's support and for him to raise the issue and stand up for their rights in the House of Commons. Fabian promised to represent their views sincerely and showed a lot of support to much of what they had to say.

The rally was made up of over a thousand young people, workers, MPs and trade unionists. It is not just young people who feel the brunt of the cuts and they are not alone in feeling neglected by the current government.

Cuts to the youth sector harm all young people in some shape or form. From hindering the less wealthy of us and risking many people's education; to disabling support for many dependent young people across the country. Many young people rely on youth work and support to help them through their education; through personal difficulties, and with general issues. Losing youth work will make many young people feel disempowered and could potentially add further youth unemployment to the already high numbers. Young people already feel a sense of vulnerability and lack of being able to affect government decisions; the cuts have exacerbated these feelings and make many view their futures with pessimism.

The problems facing youth today are possibly bigger than ever before. Since the youth are our future, these problems are not young people's alone; this is a problem for all who care about the future of our country and society.